Divinity Saga
by Maileesaeya
Summary: A series of one-shots set within the universe of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Dauntless and its sequels, filling in background and sometimes just providing extra tidbits. Please remember that most stories within are one-shots and are complete in themselves.
1. CE 55: The End of Divinity

**This is simply a very short one-shot I wrote to accompany _Phase Thirty-Three: The Truth of Divinity_ of _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Dauntless_. It's a scene that is referenced but never detailed in the audio logs left behind by Christopher Dante's father, David Dante.**

**It's not much, and it really doesn't work well without the corresponding chapter, but I hope those who have read _Gundam SEED Dauntless_ enjoy this.  
**

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"It's over," said Sera Takara as David Dante poured the three head researchers of Divinity champagne.

"And now, we reach the hardest part" said Ulen Hibiki, sighing as he picked up his wine glass, holding the research papers for the Ultimate Coordinator section of Divinity in his other hand. He threw them into the unlit fire pit sitting between the three scientists. David and Sera did the same with the research from their own sections. "Or perhaps the easiest.

David sighed. "What the hell were we thinking?" he asked. The other two had no answer. Ulen raised his glass.

"To the fools who thought to play god," he said, tipping it over so the liquid landed on the research papers before dropping the glass as well, allowing it to shatter over to papers.

"To the end of our selfish hopes and dreams," added David, tipping his glass over the papers as well and dropping it.

"To the sins we will carry, so that these children do not," finished Sera, tipping her own glass into the fire pit and dropping it.

Ulen pulled out a pack of matches, lit one, and threw it into the fire pit, burning the research papers.

"And now, all that's left is up here," said Ulen, tapping his temple. "I've already purged the remaining relevant data from the computers and destroyed all other research papers. Lady Serenity's people are putting in the final touches now. Soon, we'll destroy GARM and bury Divinity at last. No one will question it. Blue Cosmos does that sort of stuff all the time."

"Did you figure out who our saboteur is?" asked Sera. Ulen shook his head.

"No," he said. "That's the one thing that concerns me. I've made sure that only one of the three of us can activate the bombs. I'll tell you who to look out for, though. Hyata, Andras, and both Durandals. They're my prime suspects, though Hyata and Andras are a given."

"You think the Professor may be sabotaging us?" questioned David, stunned.

"It's more his son who concerns me," admitted Ulen. "I don't know what it is, but there's just something… off, about him. Even as he aided our research, I always had this feeling like he was disgusted by it. Not like a Blue Cosmos follower, but more like we were breeding weapons of war to create conflict."

"We may have been doing just that," said Sera sadly. "I agree, though. There is something off about him."

"You know, I think the Professor said something about him hanging around a boy who also seemed to be 'off'," said David thoughtfully. "A blond boy named 'Rau'."

Ulen suddenly stiffened. "Rau?" he asked. "Was there a last name?"

"No," said David. "Why?"

"You remember Al Da Flaga and his clones?" said Ulen. "_Rau_ La Flaga was the first of them."

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**Like I said, it's not much. It was originally designed as a flashback for the chapter it corresponds with, but I couldn't figure out a could way to insert it, especially since it wasn't detailed in the logs and the characters were thus left ignorant of it. Ultimately, I decided to go ahead and make it the first in a series of one-shot "sub-stories" within the "Neo" Cosmic Era setting of _Gundam SEED Dauntless_.**

**Please leave a review.  
**


	2. CE 71: Naomi's Tears

**This is the second one-shot for my "Divinity Saga", consisting of _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Dauntless_, _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Serenity_ (in progress at this time) and _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Divinity_ (which has not even begun yet). Awhile after the first, extra short one-shot (_The End of Divinity_), I realized the best thing I could do was compile all of the one-, two- or three-shots that serve as minor sidestories to the Divinity Saga universe into a single "story".**

**Anyways, I just felt like explaining that. Likely, in the future, I won't even have A/Ns at the top, instead reserving everything for the bottom. All disclaimers from the actual stories of the Divinity Saga apply here.  
**

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Divinity Saga: Naomi's Tears

January 21st, Cosmic Era 71

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Heliopolis

Everything was going fine. They'd finished the production, mostly. Now it was just time to wait for the launch, and the Earth Forces would leave Heliopolis. With any luck, afterwards, things would go back to normal somewhat. Naomi Arata let out a small sigh.

She had a bad feeling about this. With that in mind, she finished the hookups to the Black Box that Sera had sent her. She would install it into the GAT-X106 Dauntless, just in case. Sooner or later, that machine would be in her adoptive daughter's hands.

"Makoto," she started once she pressed the record button. "If you're listening to this, I guess that means I'm dead, huh? I'm sorry."

"Listen, I don't know what happened to me," she continued. "But please… be there for Minako. And Minako, I know you're listening to this as well. No matter what happened, I don't want either of you to forget that you're both my daughters. I love both of you."

Naomi smiled slightly. This was just a precaution. She definitely didn't plan on dying, but they'd entered a critical, dangerous stage.

"I just wanted you two to know, in case anything happened to me. I hope you two haven't been fighting," continued Naomi softly with a small, fond smile at the camera. "I know you're both probably angry with me over everything I've kept from you. But Sera told me a lot more than she told anyone else, so I understand her reasons for all of this. But everything will be fine, I promise. And… and I'm so sorry if I couldn't bring you two together."

Naomi felt tears well up in her eyes. She could imagine how her children would be reacting to her words.

"There are… so many things I want to say," she murmured, loud enough for the mic to pick up easily. "Minako… be there for Makoto too, okay? You two can complete each other. And… and Makoto? Don't hold back. Don't doubt yourself. Follow your dreams. Please? I'm proud of you… of both of you."

"The Dauntless… I know in my heart that you'll fly it Makoto," she said. "I designed it specifically so that the Earth Forces wouldn't be able to use it for themselves. At least, not well enough to be worthwhile. Eventually, it would end up where it truly belonged. Everything about it was built for that purpose." Naomi smiled a bit more. "And hey, I should be around to keep the pressure on to get it back, right?" Naomi's smile faded a little.

"But that's… not all," she said. "If everything goes right, you'll find something else waiting for you. It was… a gift for you and Minako. I wanted you two to fly it together. The Dauntless… well, originally, we were building your Angelus, Makoto."

"I know you're probably gasping in surprise if something went wrong and you never saw it," added Naomi quickly. "You see, the Angelus was the original prototype mobile suit we were developing. It was fairly basic, with a few odds and ends. We had to put it on hold, and then its weapons were incorporated into the Duel, so the Alliance tried to have us scrap it. We hid it instead, and continued its development along with the Astray prototypes."

Naomi smiled, almost triumphantly. "It's nearly finished too," she said. "We've added in a few secrets that Sera gave us. A technology called the Deuterion Drive is the big one. Anyways, we pushed the development of the Dauntless instead, and started stealing its technology to incorporate into the Angelus. And Sera be damned, if I'm still alive when this fiasco is over, then I'm bringing you back home Minako, and you two will get to learn to pilot the Angelus together."

Naomi's smile faded.

"That reminds me," she said. "Just in case something has gone wrong… Serenity, and I _know_ you're listening in on this, have you told Makoto the truth about Divinity yet? If not, you better get to it. Minako, make sure she does. Makoto is sixteen years old, she's ready to know the truth, and you Serenity… you're an adult, so stop acting like a child and fess up already!" Naomi rolled her eyes. "If it's gotten this far, I know I died before being able to get everything through. So I'm gonna tell you a bit more about the Black Box."

"If you've found this recording, it means the AI developed just fine," said Naomi softly. "But Sera made sure the AI wouldn't know everything. Hidden doors, hidden stimulus… okay, it goes like this: there are messages and secrets within that Black Box that you'll only have access to when the time is right. Sera was a chess master, and she's assured me that the only way things won't pan out right, such as the word can be applied, is if it becomes a moot point. So… the last and most important data… Sera didn't tell me what was in there. Just this: the stimulus to unlock that data is the presence of all Six Children of Divinity. Yeah, I know, unless you count Canard, there's technically only five. I don't know if she's counting Canard or not. I don't think so, but I don't understand what Sera was thinking. But I do know that this means _she's_ alive as well. So make sure you find her, okay?"

"So… everything else should've been settled," said Naomi, tears forming in her eyes. "I hope you never see this message, because if you are seeing this, it means I failed you, Minako, Makoto. So just… remember. I love you. My final thoughts will always be of you two. Serenity, please look after Minako like your own child and never forget to cherish Makoto and every minute you share with her. I'll never forgive you if you don't. Misuumi… I've taught Minako extensively, but I'm counting on you to finish her training as a practitioner of Shinsei Tsurugi. Shizuka, I want you to find yourself someone. Man, woman, I don't care, but find someone who makes you happy, grab that person, and never let him or her go. And Ichida… if you're there… I love you. Don't let go of anything for me. And live your life to the fullest. All of you, remember, every moment is precious, and it will never come again. So cherish everything, because you never know when you might lose it."

"Goodbye," sobbed Naomi, reaching out and hitting the stop button. That was harder than she'd thought… but through her tears, she smiled.

"I can't believe I wasted all that time," she said to herself. She was just being paranoid.

**

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**

Four days later, Ichida was dead, and Naomi found herself dying in Makoto's arms, her blood spilling out onto the Dauntless, and she realized she'd been right to leave that legacy after all. Now, she had to make sure Makoto didn't let the Dauntless go.

"Mako-chan," choked Naomi, smiling up at the redhead. "Get it out of here… don't let anyone else have Dauntless… Ichida and I made it… for you…" _and Minako_ is what she wanted to say, but she was cutoff as she coughed up blood. Damn… that hurt…

"Mom, don't talk, you'll be okay," said Makoto desperately through the tears on her face and in her voice. Naomi smiled, a little stronger, proud of this girl. Makoto would find her way.

"I'm fortunate… to have been your mother," she said. "Makoto… I love yo…" Naomi's voice failed her. Fate was cruel, wasn't it, cutting her off like this? Still, as important as telling Makoto about Minako was, it was just as important that Makoto knew that she was important to Naomi and always would be.

_You two look after each other… I love you._

**

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Taiyonoha Manor

January 1st, C.E. 74

The four surviving Taiyonoha sat around the family room, faces hidden to conceal their tears. Faith watched the four, touched in her own way by Naomi's heartfelt final message. The only way in which Faith had ever known Naomi was through this message, but the still growing AI couldn't fail to recognize how much they'd all cared about each other.

The AI had discovered this soon after Minako had come aboard the _Archangel_, but had chosen to hide it till now, to give them a chance to deal with all the other emotions they had to face, and she knew it had been a wise decision, because the emotional turmoil they faced now was palpable even to Faith.

Knowing what they would ask, Faith ran a check over all previous data on Heliopolis… there was nothing there. So she prepared to send a request, just as soon as Serenity or Makoto became coherent enough to give her the request.

Shizuka was the first to recover, standing up and walking unsteadily from the room without saying a word. It didn't take a genius to figure out where she was going.

"Faith?" murmured Makoto.

"I've already checked," said the AI. "There's no evidence of this 'Angelus' mobile suit anywhere but here. I can send a request to check the ruins again."

"Please do."

**

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**

John and Victor's Apartment

"What happened?" asked Victor, lying back on his bed with Shizuka curled up next to and partially on top of him.

"I was… reminded of something today," said Shizuka. "Victor… I love you. Please, don't forget that."

"How could I?" questioned the sniper softly.

"Just don't," said Shizuka. "Please… promise me that you'll be here for me every chance you get."

"I will," he said. "I promise."

**

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**

Taiyonoha Manor

Miyuki whined slightly, sensitive to the depression her owners were feeling. Makoto subconsciously reached out and petted the husky comfortingly, but otherwise just continued to stare at the pictures of the Arata family—though herself in place of Minako—that decorated one wall of her room.

The door opened, a lithe figure walking over to join her on the bed.

"I'm sorry, Minako," whispered Makoto. The brunette shook her head slightly, turning to face her cousin.

"It isn't your fault," she said softly. "I'm glad… I'm so glad I was able to see her… to hear her voice again. And it's thanks to you."

"But I…"

"Angelus," said Minako. "We'll find it. We'll do what she asked us to. We'll pilot it together. Maybe not into battle… but we will fly it together, just the way she wanted us to. And like she said, every moment is precious, right? We're both… we're both here, Makoto…!"

The redhead turned about, grabbing Minako, and slammed her down onto the bed, wrapping her in a desperate hug.

"Yeah… we're both here…" sobbed Makoto as the two girls started crying, clinging to each other desperately.

Standing at the door, Serenity watched the girls who were both her daughters and her nieces. She stepped away, leaving them on their own.

"I'll take care of them," she said. "Naomi… I promise, I'll look after all of them."

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**Author's Notes: Well, there you have it. The premise, obviously, is a message Naomi left behind just in case she died. After that (which takes place four days before the attack on Heliopolis, so almost directly preceding the start of _SEED Dauntless_), it cuts to the end of Phase 1 of _SEED Dauntless_, only this time showing it from Naomi's point of view. After that, well****… it switches to the empty time period between the middle and end of Phase 35 of _SEED Serenity_, in which the message is finally recieved.**

**I hope everyone felt the emotions I wanted to imbue with this. Other than that****…**

**Well, I guess I'll let you know: I intend to write at least two more one-shots. One will detail the immediate aftermath of the Battle of the Marshall Islands from Kira, Makoto and Erik's P.O.V., providing further details in particular on Kira's survival. The second one-shot I have planned will be the immediate aftermath of the Second Battle of Jachin Due.**

**Till then, please review this. Again, I hope everyone felt the emotion I was looking to imbue and project. Say****ōnara, min'na!**


	3. CE 74: The Mirror

**Warning: This one-shot contains spoilers for Phase 24: The Promise, and Phase 40: The Lioness of Orb, of _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Serenity_. If you have yet to reach that point in that story, read at your own risk.**

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Divinity Saga: The Mirror

January 20th, Cosmic Era 74

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Orb Union

Extended-Coordinator 1004, better known by her 'codename', Mariemeia Zabiarov, was a pretty young girl with shoulder-length black hair and red highlights, but her features were hidden by the black and purple cloth mask she wore, something common to all of the Extended-Coordinators, or 'EX-Cs' for short.

Mariemeia, sometimes shortened to 'Maia', had spent a month shifting between near-catatonia and rampaging bloodlust. She was kept forcefully sedated prior to Heaven's Base, in order to keep her under control. She had been a wild, reckless and barely contained force on the battlefield that barely managed to survive. Since then, they hadn't been able to keep her under, and her rampages were controlled by EX-C1306, 'codenamed' Silber Messa.

On this particular day, when the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, or ZAFT, launched its Operation Fury to destroy the Orb Union and capture Lord Djibril, who the remaining Extended-Coordinators were guarding, she was nearly catatonic once again.

The music that she had adored so much wouldn't stop anymore, and it was driving her insane. It played incessantly in her inner ear, not allowing her a moment's peace. She could escape it, but the escape was only temporary, and for very short periods in her own mind, though she was often out of it for hours, sometimes days, at a time.

It had been this way ever since her 'brother', the strongest of all the EX-Cs, had gone turncoat, performing the impossible act of betraying Blue Cosmos to side with the Coordinators. Her condition, already worse than the others because of her young age, had degraded with his capture, then continued to degrade until he returned, only for him to betray everything soon after.

Her rampages had actually saved her life—she would've been taken off her drugs and tossed aside, the deprivation slowly killing her. But because of her rampages, she was still somewhat useful, if given direction, and with the EX-Cs numbers dwindling, they couldn't afford to discard her while still somewhat useful.

A GOUF Ignited flew through the air overhead. Maia saw it, stirring slightly, the movement going unnoticed by the others in the limo.

This was familiar… she remembered this… mobile suits… over Orb…

"_Those aren't your memories,_" whispered a voice in her mind. Maia's eyes widened behind her mask as the slight reflection in the window became clearer. But it wasn't EX-C1004 being reflected—the girl reflected as clearly as though in a mirror looked like Maia, but her face was softer, the red highlights faded in seconds, and the mask faded away as well, revealing violet-red eyes staring back at her.

She'd seen this before… but never before had it come to her without pain. She didn't understand…

"_Those are my memories of Orb,_" said the girl in the mirror. "_Back when the Earth Forces attacked us._" The girl gave a weak smile. "_I barely survived… and Blue Cosmos found me._"

As memories were shown to her, Maia felt herself beginning to understand. The music was softer now, no longer blaring in her ears, drowned out by the presence of the girl in the mirror.

"_You're… me?_" questioned Maia, speaking silently into her own mind, not wanting the others to hear, afraid of how they might react.

"_Sort of… I… don't really know myself,_" admitted the mirror. "_You're… we're part of each other… I think? But I really don't know… it's… it's hard speaking to you like this. The mask…_"

Maia understood. She could think, the music was quiet… this girl drowned it out.

She couldn't go back… she wouldn't return to the sound of that music beating away at her consciousness any longer! The mask that protected the EX-Cs was making it difficult… Maia could hear the music getting louder as the reflection became cloudier.

She had to get away from the others… she had to escape, to be free, to be in the presence of this girl, to be free of this slavery to whatever she was and to that unceasing noise beating at her skull!

The limo was forced to stop at a red light; traffic was unaltered, even as people started to fall into a panic, recognizing that they were under attack. Someone was only just starting to rally the military. But this was fortunate for Maia; now was the time, the only chance she had.

Mariemeia forced open the limo door, jumping out and slamming it closed behind her, ignoring the cries of shock and outrage from those within as she started running, hoping the concern of her fellow EX-Cs would be focused too much on Djibril to give chase as she ran through the city, navigating with the memories given to her by the girl in the mirror, trying to find the best route back where the car had come from.

But it wasn't easy—this was the Orb mainland, and the girl in the mirror had lived on Onogoro.

She was lucky, though, and found an abandoned bicycle. Mariemeia had never used one before, but the girl had, and this body remembered it. She grabbed the bicycle, quickly adjusted it, and started pedaling her way through the city, back in the direction of the Seiran Estate.

**

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**

It took awhile; she wasn't sure how long, but she knew it had been at least half an hour.

However, Maia reached the ruins of the Seiran Estate, dropping the bicycle as she ran forward, hoping to find something.

Somehow, she found herself unbelievably lucky; there were cracks running through it, but she found a mostly intact mirror. Staring into it, she removed her mask, remembering that her brother had done the same thing barely more than a month ago.

The face of the girl immediately stared back at her. There was still no pain accompanying it as Maia sunk to her knees in relief as the music again faded to little more than a soft hum.

"Is this… better?" questioned Maia, now speaking out loud.

"_Yes…_" replied the mirror. "_Thank you… it's so much easier like this. That mask… it was like…_"

"Like I was hiding from you?" supplied Maia, moving to a sitting position, curling her legs in front of her and wrapping her arms around them, the girl in the mirror imitating her actions.

"_Yes._"

"I like this," said Maia softly. "Seeing you… it feels so warm… it doesn't hurt anymore."

"_I'm sorry,_" said the mirror. "_That was my fault. I was struggling to take back control… I couldn't stand what you were doing with my body, and…_"

"It's okay… the music is quiet when you're around," said Maia. "What about you?"

"_I feel warm too,_" said the mirror-girl.

In the distance, they heard an explosion. Wind blew in from Onogoro, lightly lifting Maia's hair. Nearer to the city, Izanami mobile suits lending aid to Orb decimated the invading ZAFT forces.

"_Can I show you? What the attack on Orb was like?_" asked the mirror. Maia nodded.

"Yes," she said softly. "I want to know more about you."

And memories trickled into her mind; lack of treatment and her decidedly unstable mental state left Maia more vulnerable to her other self than the rest of the EX-Cs.

But she didn't mind.

Mariemeia remembered; she remembered the speech of Uzumi Nara Athha as he spoke out against the behavior of the Atlantic Federation and called to others to remember the ideals of Orb, the ideals that had kept them independent, at peace, and unbound by meaningless hatred and distinctions such as 'Natural' and 'Coordinator'.

She remembered the Atlantic Federation's blatant aggression to Orb's refusal to submit. The unprovoked invasion for the sake of genocide. She remembered terror, running with her family, and she remembered the sight of the Freedom desperately fighting to hold the line against unstoppable foes.

She remembered dropping a precious possession… a cell phone, a gift from her family. She remembered a boy, her brother, rushing to retrieve it.

And she remembered the Deliverance, shifting slightly and firing a barrage of missiles. Before it fired, the Freedom's railguns struck it, knocking it off-balance. One missile that had been aimed towards her family missed as a result, and instead of the direct impact that would've killed them all, the explosion slew the mirror-girl's parents as they used their own bodies to shield her and save her life, despite the grievous injuries she sustained.

A few more memories before they stopped, the mirror-girl unable to go on.

"_Please… stop hating them… there's no reason…_" begged the mirror softly. "_You're a Coordinator too… you're just being used… please…_"

"Being used… a Coordinator…" Maia's eyes widened, before she pushed herself up to the mirror.

"What about you?" she cried. "What's going to happen to you? I don't want you to disappear! But…"

"_I won't… I won't disappear! And neither will you!_" said the girl firmly. "_Please… just let go of that hatred._"

It wasn't supposed to be easy; letting go of the thing that had basically defined one's existence should be nearly impossible.

But like rain pouring over her and washing grime from her body, Maia felt her hatred disappear in the blink of an eye, as though it had never existed; that hatred was only a program, one Maia did not care about anymore, and even fractured, her mind… _they're mind_… was infinitely more powerful than that programmed hatred.

Maia blinked slightly, looking up.

Oh… there really _was_ water raining down on her. Something had hit the ocean nearby and sent a spray of water in her direction. She hadn't even noticed at first.

As she stood up, Maia saw that the girl in the mirror was standing with her, but no longer in the mirror.

The reflection stepped closer, mirroring Maia's own movements until the two were standing right next to one another.

Then, the mirror reached out and pulled Maia into a hug, surprising her. Maia returned the hug of the projection from her mind, not really realizing that anyone looking on the scene would only have seen a young girl hugging air, moving and acting in a bizarre fashion.

"I'm Mayu, by the way," said the mirror. "Mayu Asuka."

"Mariemeia Zabiarov," answered Maia, a smile forming on her lips as the music disappeared completely. Mayu smiled as well, before fading away.

But the warmth was still there.

"_What will you do now?_"

"Protect… I'm gonna protect Orb!" said Maia, eyes shining with a determination all her own.

Their thoughts began to connect and collide as Maia rushed to where they'd hidden the mobile suits. She found them after only a minute, unnoticed by attackers or defenders.

As she rushed to the cockpit of the fully charged Strike Noir, Maia knew she was free.

All thanks to a little girl in a mirror.

Neither knew it then, but the bond between them would continue to grow stronger and stronger until both ceased to be as a single being, the two halves fusing into a single person, her true self.

It didn't matter; they were at peace, with themselves and each other. Becoming one person was perhaps the thing they wanted most of all.

They were no longer mirror images. As the Strike Noir lifted into the air and charged towards Onogoro and the heart of the fighting, they looked forward to their future together, knowing somehow that it would be a bright one.

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**Author's Notes: Finally got around to getting this out. This is the third one-shot set in the "Divinity Saga" continuity. This one takes place during Phase 40 of _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Serenity_, which is now complete other than the epilogue. The premise is the change in Mariemeia Zabiarov that causes her to rush off to the battle instead of sticking with the other EX-Cs and Djibril.**

**I found that there seems to be a bit of a "theme" to these one-shots; although most are currently incomplete, they tend to delve much more heavily into the thoughts of the characters than the main story does. This is probably because I can't do that much more comfortably here; delving into character thoughts in the main story could easily as much as _triple_ its length, and while it's not as long as the sequel is intended to be, it's already kind of overlong, particularly for fanfiction.**

**Anyways, I got off-track. This story itself is pretty self-explanatory, and I hope you all enjoyed it. The next one-shot will probably be set between _SEED Serenity_ and _SEED Divinity_. I say "probably" because I might get the inspiration needed for two other one-shots I've been working on.**

**If I'm _really_ lucky, I'll get the inspiration needed for writing a one-shot detailing the Battle of Arzachel at the end of _SEED Serenity_. But that's not important right now.**

**Again, I hope you enjoyed; please leave reviews, and look forward to the other one-shots I've got planned (whenever it is that they manage to get out, at any rate).**

**Ja ne!  
**


	4. CE 74: Legacy

**Warning: This one-shot contains spoilers for the ending of _Gundam SEED Serenity_. Actually, scratch that, it has spoilers for anything past the halfway point of _Gundam SEED Serenity_. If you have not finished that story, then read at your own risk.**

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Divinity Saga: Legacy

September 3rd, C.E. 74

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Chambers of the Supreme Council of Asteria, Aprilius One

It had been seven months since the war ended, and five months since the alliance between Izanami and the PLANTs began.

As could be expected, many had been understandably nervous about the alliance between the leading world powers. The Orb Union, Equatorial Union and Kingdom of Scandinavia had stayed out of it, working even harder to maintain their neutrality.

The Republic of East Asia, in a move that many saw as prudent, negotiated its way into the PLANT-Izanami alliance, while the Oceania Union worked to restore its previous alliance with the PLANTs.

The United States of South America allied itself with the Atlantic Federation, a move many had seen coming. The new Atlantic Federation President, Amanda Ward, had been working since before the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War to repair her nation's relationship with its neighbors. Her success had made her wildly popular, both within her nation and outside of it; in some respects, she'd become the Atlantic Federation equivalent to Cagalli Yula Athha, Lacus Clyne, or Serenity Sakaeru Taiyonoha.

What had surprised many, however, was the union of the African Community and South African Union, formerly bitter rivals, into a single power bloc. The African Union had subsequently worked to establish its own alliance with the Eurasian Federation, which was formally established as quickly as many other alliances had been.

The ultimate result was to place the world into four distinct power groups, one of which was made up of nations who sought to stay out of the affairs of the rest of the world.

However, thanks to their diplomatic and peace-advocating leaders, relations between the nations remained friendly.

The hunt for Blue Cosmos probably helped with this.

The inevitable eventually happened, of course, but it was much sooner than anyone had expected: Izanami and the PLANTs fused together into a single nation, known as Asteria.

The full union had been a surprisingly smooth process, but there were bumps along the way; some dissenters in the original PLANTs felt that Izanami was staging a silent takeover of their home, despite the fact that, while Izanami made up nearly a quarter of Asteria's population and over a third of its so-called landmass, it only represented one-fifth of the Supreme Council.

However, the overall union had gone smoothly.

Fully uniting their militaries was a more difficult task. ZAFT was a militia, and while it had taken some steps towards a proper military, it had never shaken off its roots, for various reasons. The Izanami Defense Force, on the other hand, had been a full, if rather eccentric, military force from the beginning.

However, even that had gone well; after all, they'd been preparing for this since the initial alliance. ZAFT and the IDF had united into the Asteria Defense Force, though the new name was mostly a formality; the organization was pretty much universally known as the 'ZAFT Defense Force', a compromise of sorts between the names of the two militaries. Currently possessing only an _extremely _loose organization to it, the new ZAFT was currently in the process of undergoing a full reorganization.

This brought them to the current matter discussed by the new Supreme Council.

"A Supreme Commander?" questioned Malory Cada, the representative of Sextilis City and Chairwoman of the Administrative Committee. "Chairman Amalfi, isn't that your responsibility?"

"At present, yes," agreed National Defense Committee Chairman Yuri Amalfi, representative of Maius City, and easily one of the most popular individuals on the Council. "However, I am a politician rather than a soldier. With the current state of our forces, I believe the soldiers need someone of their own to follow."

"That makes sense," commented Timothy Craig, representative of October City and a member of the Judicial Committee. "A single authority on equal standing with the Defense Committee Chairman, and the official leader of ZAFT."

"The question is, who?" said Caridad Yamato. She was the representative of Tsukuyomi City on the Council, and a member of the Administrative Committee; Caridad had proven surprisingly adept on the political field despite spending the better part of two decades as a stay-at-home mom. She'd learned well from Serenity, and almost gleefully proved that her brief stint as a university physics professor was no mere fluke.

"I should think the answer obvious, Councilor Yamato," said Ezalia Joule lightly, almost teasingly even. Once Patrick Zala's most fervent supporter, Ezalia had been a tremendous help to Yuri in the waning days of the last war, throwing herself into the cause of the Never-ending Tomorrow. It had been a surprise to many when the people of Martius City asked for the restoration of her previous position on the Council, as a member of the Defense Committee; she now supported Lacus Clyne as fervently as she'd supported Zala, if not more so.

This may have had something to do with Izanami's role in her son's current rehabilitation, after being used as a subject in the Blue Cosmos Extended-Coordinator Project. However, if there was any truth in that belief, it was more likely that it simply bolstered her support for Lacus.

"Indeed," commented Megumi Daimon, representative of Susanoo City and a member of the Legislative Committee, voicing agreement with Ezalia's words, a small smile playing on her own lips.

"Then who?" questioned Lacus Clyne, Chairwoman of the Supreme Council and representative of Aprilius City. Her rise to power was an interesting one; initially just a pop idol, peace advocate and daughter of Siegel Clyne, Lacus had garnered a great deal of popularity and political influence from her opposition to Patrick Zala's tyrannical regime and her role in bringing the First War to an end. This had only grown since her actions in the Second War.

"Councilor Yamato's son, of course," said Ayden Harkins, Chairman of the Judicial Committee and representative of Junius City, a small smirk on his face. "Your fiancé, as I recall, Madam Chairwoman. I understand if you don't want to appear to be showing favoritism, but let's be realistic here, shall we?"

"Kira?" questioned Lacus, shocked.

"There's no one better for the position," agreed Serenity Sakaeru Taiyonoha, representative of Amaterasu City, Chairwoman of the Diplomatic Committee, and the informal vice president of the unified nation.

"Yes," said Yuri. "He was my first, and most likely only, choice."

"But Kira Yamato isn't even twenty years old!" objected Michele Baldaro of Januarius City, Chairman of the Legislative Committee. "I know he's competent, but he's barely more than a boy! Surely someone older and more experienced would be a better choice?" It was funny how the fact that Kira had been an enemy of ZAFT in both wars never crossed anyone's mind.

Angela Harris, representative of December City and a member of the National Defense Committee, chuckled slightly, drawing attention to herself.

"You've never met Admiral Yamato personally, have you?" she asked. "He'd probably be the first to agree with you, Chairman Baldaro. Which is just another reason he would be ideal."

"The position we are proposing would have a tremendous amount of power," explained Ezalia. "We need someone that everyone can trust; and it is a position as symbolic as it is practical."

"I agree," said Serena Freshour, of September City, a member of the Diplomatic Committee. "Kira Yamato led the united forces of Eternal Freedom at the Battle of Luna. His strategies are credited for saving numerous lives and radically improving the expected performance of his forces. He is also the White Angel of Freedom, one of two individuals recognized as the greatest mobile suit pilots in the world. He is someone our forces respect above and beyond any other, save perhaps Makoto Michiru Taiyonoha herself. That is the sort of person who would be ideal for this."

"But still… to place that responsibility on someone so young…" murmured Tamba Desta, representative of November City and a member of the Judicial Committee.

"No younger than when he was at the Battle of Luna," said Tad Elsman pointedly. "And only months younger than the leader of the IDF." The Representative of Februarius City and a member of the Administrative Committee, he was one of the strongest supporters of the PLANT-Izanami alliance/union, and remained a strong supporter of both Lacus and Serenity. Like Ezalia, his son was a former EX-C currently undergoing rehabilitation.

"Well, yes, but…"

"Whoever takes up this position needs to be ready and willing to listen to the advice of others," added Tobias Larsson, representative of Quintilis City and a member of the Legislative Committee. "From what I know of him, I believe Kira Yamato would be ideal for such a thing."

"Yamato can lead from the frontlines of conflict," said Yuri. "He's a natural leader, the people adore him, he'll listen to what others have to say, he will not act or fail to act without good reason, and he's not afraid to admit to being wrong or in over his head."

"And this will help our relations with the rest of the world," added Serenity. "Kira Yamato is respected worldwide, and he is the twin brother of Cagalli Yula Athha of Orb."

Silence followed that statement as everyone turned this over. After a moment, Lacus cleared her throat.

"Well then… those in favor of establishing the post of Supreme Commander of ZAFT?" she asked, somewhat uncertainly, raising her own hand slightly to show her support. The rest of the Council voted in favor without hesitation.

"And… and those in favor of assigning the position to Admiral Kira Yamato?"

This time, Lacus did not lend her own support. It was selfish of her, she knew that, but she and Kira had precious little time together as it was. If he were to become the leader of ZAFT…

Most of the Council raised their hands in favor immediately. The rest were somewhat hesitant… but after a moment, Caridad, Tamba and Michele raised their own hands in support of the assignment, leaving Lacus the only one opposed to Kira becoming ZAFT's leader.

The rosette sighed.

"Very well then," she said softly. "We will establish the position of Supreme Commander of ZAFT, and this position will be assigned to… to Kira Yamato."

Silence followed her statement for a moment, some of the councilors giving her sympathetic looks as they recognized and forgave her opposition. After all, they'd placed a great deal of responsibility on her as well, even though she was no older than Yamato, not even twenty years old.

"There is… one other matter I wished to bring to the table," said Yuri, drawing attention to himself once again. "I would like to reestablish the Special Forces unit known as FAITH."

Gasps followed this statement.

"Chairman Amalfi, why?" questioned Angela, thoroughly confused; he had not shared this with her or Ezalia, as he had the proposal for a Supreme Commander. "FAITH was merely a tool used by the previous Chairman to orchestrate the Second War and advance his Destiny Plan agenda."

"Yes, that's what it was," agreed Yuri, raising a hand to forestall anyone else from speaking up until he was finished explaining himself. "However, such an organization was not without its merits. That is the reason former Chairman Durandal received support for its establishment. I would have discarded the moniker as well… except that, the reorganized FAITH that I am proposing would be commanded by a single authority, much like the Supreme Commander. The original FAITH gave special authority to its members, but was an even more loose organization than the original ZAFT. What I am proposing is an elite special forces unit with similar authority to the original organization, but each reporting to a single superior, who would in turn report directly to the Supreme Commander or the Supreme Council."

"If you're suggesting keeping the FAITH moniker…" murmured Mallory softly. "Then I presume your proposed leader would be Makoto Michiru Taiyonoha, correct?"

Serenity shifted uncertainly at the mention of her older daughter for such a task.

"Yes," said Yuri. "She is much like Kira Yamato; she was even the leader of the Izanami Defense Force. And right now, we need individuals who can be powerful symbols in addition to competent leaders. The new FAITH I am proposing would be smaller, more centralized, and better controlled than the original was."

"Such a system would also allow for autonomous groups capable of acting quickly in response to threats," commented Ezalia, turning it over in her mind. "And would also be ideal for hunting down organizations such as Blue Cosmos. Terrorists cannot be efficiently fought with a regular army."

"If that were to be the case, there would be very few individuals who could meet the standards this new FAITH would require," said Angela, glancing around before her eyes came to rest on Lacus and Serenity. "Chairwoman Clyne, Chairwoman Taiyonoha, what do you two think?"

The two silent leaders shared a brief glance before Lacus spoke up.

"I'm in favor of such an organization," she said.

"As am I," added Serenity.

Any opposition there may have been was wiped away by those words.

* * *

Catharina Lunar Base

Shinn Asuka was a young pilot; he'd turned eighteen just two days ago, after all. However, he was also one of ZAFT's foremost aces, famously known as the Dark Knight of Destiny. The title was not necessarily very positive right now, but it was Shinn's own, and he was intent on turning it into something worthwhile.

However, this did not tell him why he was at Catharina right now.

"Why are we here again?" questioned Shinn as he followed in the wake of Makoto Michiru Taiyonoha, the legendary pilot known as the Dauntless Angel of Faith, former leader of the Izanami Defense Force and now one of the foremost leaders of ZAFT, despite her young age.

"The reorganization of ZAFT is a headache and a half," explained Makoto. "Natarle may delight in it and her arguments with Rebecca, but I don't want any part in it. So… I ran away."

Shinn did not blame her. Nor did he blame her opinion of Natarle Badgiruel's interactions with Rebecca Kessel as the two locked horns over the reorganization. There was an odd friendship there despite that, one he couldn't really comprehend.

At her adoptive sister's side, Erica Taiyonoha giggled slightly, which caused Shinn to shift slightly in uncertainty.

Even after more than half a year, Shinn was still struggling to wrap his mind around the fate of Nabiki Ombre.

The woman who'd headed the Destiny Mobile Suit Project and dedicated her life to the death of Makoto Taiyonoha had effectively ceased to be, dying with some semblance of peace inside the Mobile Space Fortress Messiah. A part of her was still alive—namely, the part that had loved Makoto instead of hating her.

Since that time, 'Erica' had been adopted into the Taiyonoha Family by Lady Serenity. Much to Makoto's irritation, her new adoptive sister had taken to acting as her personal maid at virtually all times. Erica was still as dangerous and capable as Nabiki, perhaps more so, but she refused such things as returning to ZAFT or joining any other organization.

When asked, she'd merely said that such a thing would require her dedicating herself to something _other_ than Makoto.

The Dauntless Angel had _not_ been amused. Pretty much everyone she knew, however, _had_ been amused.

Shinn was probably the big exception, as he still struggled with what was going on here.

The Dark Knight shook off those thoughts, addressing Makoto again.

"Okay, I get trying to escape work on the reorganization," he said as they continued down the hall. "But why bring me?"

"Destiny," said Makoto simply, bringing Shinn up short.

The Destiny, Shinn's mobile suit during the final stages of the last war, had been taken offline shortly after the alliance between ZAFT and the Izanami Defense Force. The same was true for the nuclear reactors powering the _Eternal_'s METEOR, in order to avoid any sort of objections to being outside the bounds of the Treaty of Copernicus with regards to the use of N-jammer cancellers. Although the union had not been official until very recently, everyone had informally recognized how things really were from the beginning.

After it was taken offline, he'd been assigned a Raptor Command as a temporary stand-in, but he was hoping they'd have something more suited to him soon.

"Wait, what's going on with Destiny?" questioned Shinn, rushing to catch up with Makoto and Erica.

"Well, let's just say we found a way around the Treaty restrictions," said Makoto.

"Because we couldn't afford to take the Serenity, Strike Freedom or Redemption offline, we used the Destiny as a test bed," added Erica. "And you're the test pilot."

"Are you serious?" muttered Shinn. "How… how the hell do you plan to get around the Treaty restrictions? Is there some loophole about the N-jammer canceller I missed?"

"No, no loopholes," said Makoto. "Each nation had the Treaty checked by at least three different lawyers before signing the damn thing. What the lawyers did not know about was an experimental piece of technology brought to us by my late godmother."

The three stepped into an almost empty hangar, decorated by large plants in just about every corner. Standing in the center of the hangar was the Destiny. And at its feet…

"Ah, you're here!" said Eve Walser, turning to face them as they approached. "Excellent. We were just finishing the last of the failsafes."

"Hi Shinn," said Rey Za Burrel, turning to face his friend with a small smile.

"Rey," muttered Shinn, surprised to see his friend again after so long. He returned the smile slightly. "Um… how is…? Well, you know."

"Things have gone well," said Rey. "I hardly need my medication at all anymore; Dr. Scaglietti says my treatment should be done by the end of the year, provided I make it to all my appointments." Rey frowned. "I hope so… Deici and Cinque are nice, but Dr. Scaglietti is so…"

"Jail always was an eccentric one," commented Eve. "Absolutely _brilliant_, but such a nutcase that he's pretty hard to work with—probably why he's doing independent work these days. Still, he's a good man, and there's no better person to work with in the field of science, assuming you can deal with his eccentricity. Plus, his understanding of cloning technology surpasses anyone else I've ever met."

"Yes, well, enough of that whack job please," put in Shizuka Kaioh Taiyonoha, walking over to them.

"Aunt Shizuka… how are you feeling?" asked Makoto, turning to face her aunt.

"I'm fine," assured Shizuka with a small smile. "Anyways, Shinn, there's a locker room right over there. Why don't you go ahead and get in your pilot suit? The sooner we test the Destiny's Solar Drive, the sooner we can work out the kinks and the sooner we can get it put in on the Angels."

"Ah, right away," said Shinn. Once he left, Makoto turned to her aunt.

"How's the Solar Drive System looking, anyways?" she asked. To her surprise, Shizuka actually scowled.

"Perfectly… perfectly infuriating that is!" she said, sounding vehement. Makoto blinked in surprise while Rey and Eve, who'd gotten used to this by now, merely sighed. "Everything's working exactly to spec; it's driving me nuts! Energy in equals energy out, everyone knows that! These stupid things don't just defy all the laws of physics, they bend them over a spiked bar and rape them with a bazooka! _You cannot generate a particle that can be harnessed for several times the energy used in its production!_"

As Shizuka descended into a profanity-filled rant on the impossible technology Sera Takara had left for them, Makoto turned to face the Destiny, tuning her aunt out; the language she was using wouldn't be appropriate in even the most depraved company.

Destiny was the pinnacle of Integrated Design Bureau's work. The development had been overseen by Erica, back when she was still Nabiki.

The Destiny was also all IDB really had left.

Morgenroete Incorporated, a production company owned by Makoto's family, had been the primary supplier of the Izanami Defense Force, with a great deal of advanced technology that put the multi-corporate IDB to shame. Even though Morgenroete itself had separated after the last war, what was left to the Taiyonoha still outshone IDB.

The organization now known as Morgenroete was but a small part of the old organization; it was owned by the Sahaku House of the Orb Union, and was based in that country and the Sahaku's Ame-no-Mihashira orbital station. It served as the primary supplier of Orb's military, but while still powerful, it lacked the sheer scope of the old organization.

The bulk of the old Morgenroete had been reorganized as the Amate Corporation, based out of Amaterasu Eight. It also had a few more specialized major branch organizations: Tsukuyomi Military Arms Corporation, based out of Tsukuyomi Five, and Susanoo Industries, based out of Susanoo Nine, each with a few subsidiaries of their own. Although the corporation as a whole was extremely diverse in its product production, all branches delved into military technology somewhat.

IDB had been fearful of the Amate Corporation's presence, and rightfully so. The owners had been bitter as well; the Battle of Luna, in which Izanami fought against the ZAFT forces loyal to Gilbert Durandal's Destiny Plan, had resulted in the death of their youngest child, Tristan Palleon, who'd sided with the Destiny Plan and was shot down by one of Izanami's elite, one who'd been a ZAFT pilot before defecting, and a personal friend of Tristan.

Since ZAFT's Operation Fury and Izanami's Operation Eternal Freedom had amply demonstrated the superiority of Morgenroete's products, IDB had been quick to recognize they were in danger of being rendered obsolete. Desperately, they'd worked out several new mobile suit designs to propose to ZAFT: the GYAN Knight, GELGOOG Specter and DIAS Challenger had been the results.

All three designs were rejected by ZAFT. Within a few months, most of IDB's products had been scrapped for raw materials or sold off to raise capital for the new designs in the works of Amate Corporation.

Martius Arsenals and Maius Military Industries had been ZAFT's primary supplier before the end of the First War. However, the two were largely subsumed by IDB, which had support from Durandal, who wanted to strengthen his own position and influence on weapons design. The irony of this, given his opposition to the military-industrial organization Logos, was not lost on anyone.

However, both MA and MMI had been quick to recognize the shifting power base in the military production for ZAFT, and effectively abandoned IDB for Amate Corp., sealing IDB's fate.

Integrated Design Bureau, once holding a monopoly on the production of ZAFT's weapons, had been broken within months of an opponent it did not massively outsize entering the playing field. The monopoly now belonged to Amate Corporation.

Fortunately, these monopolies had not come back to bite anyone in the ass thus far.

Besides these corporate changes in military production, other military changes had occurred.

ZAFT had abandoned the bulk of its old production mobile suit designs; the only one left in service was the ZGMF-2001 GOUF Tetra, a redesign of the ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited. The GOUF Tetra was a simple holdover; it was designed by Amate engineers as something the old model could easily be converted to, one that would work well alongside the MBF-M4 Yamato. The GOUF Tetra and M4 now constituted the bulk of ZAFT's mobile suit forces.

The IDF's MBF-M2 Angelus had been abandoned as well; the MVF-M3 Guardian, their current air-superiority machine, remained in service in only very limited numbers, primarily aboard the _Suijin_-class submarines. A replacement, dedicated aerial machine was currently in the works, but it was unknown when it would start to be fielded.

Meanwhile, literally _all_ of ZAFT's old amphibious and terrestrial mobile suits were retired; they were replaced instead by the IDF's ABF-A1 Kame and TVF-T1 Tahiko, respectively.

Most commanders who piloted had also been issued ZGMF-XX02T Raptor Commands. Special forces units often equipped a mix of ZGMF-XX01T Raptors, ZGMF-XX03T Raptor Shadows, and ZGMF-XX04T Raptor Valkyries.

Then there were the changes in ships; classifications of their vessels had been refined after the Battle of Luna, as it became clear many of them were poorly designated. The _Izumo_-class battleships, for instance, while still being well-armed, were slow and generally lacking in firepower compared to other battleships in use by ZAFT/IDF. Combined with their large hangars, the ships had been redesignated as attack carriers, better reflecting their actual role and capabilities.

The _Minerva_-class battleships had similarly been reclassified; though radically superior to the _Izumo_-class, the ships still didn't quite measure up to what was now the mainstay battleship of the ZAFT fleet, the _Athena_-class that had actually been derived from the _Minerva_. With their large hangars and impressive speed and agility, the ships had been more appropriately classified as heavy battlecuisers. They were still a favorite choice for flagship, though.

The _Vosgulov_-class attack submarines had also been victims of this; those that remained in service were quite appropriately reclassified as escort submarines, reflecting their new role of protecting the _Suijin_-class submarine attack carriers, which were larger, just as maneuverable, had greater firepower, defensive power, and a larger number of mobile weapons.

The _Lesseps_-class land battleships had been mostly retired in favor of the _Compton_-class land battleships. This was because the _Lesseps_-class was well-suited to desert conditions, but not much else. However, they'd been pulled back into service; the scale system that made them so effective in the desert also allowed them to traverse the ocean with the utmost ease, and they were being used to bolster the relatively weak ZAFT navy; they'd been reclassified as naval attack carriers, due to their large hangars and numerous guns.

The _Petrie_-class land cruisers and _Laurasia_-class frigates, both once mainstay ZAFT vessels, were not so lucky. None of them remained in military service, unable to keep up with the quickly changing times.

And though it was a ways off, it seemed likely the _Yomi_-class cruisers would do the same to the _Nazca_-class destroyers in good time. For now, though, the destroyers remained the mainstay vessel of ZAFT's space forces.

And, of course, there was the _Gondwana_-class supercarrier. At twelve hundred meters in length and eighteen hundred meters in width, the class was pathetically armed for its size, and also pathetically slow. However, it was capable of carrying literally hundreds of mobile suits into battle and quickly deploying them with its sixteen linear catapults. For this reason, it remained in service and despite the hideous costs involved, a second such vessel, the _Pangaea_, had been commissioned and was now under construction.

Perhaps the most prominent vessel in the modern era, even if it was one of the least numerous, was the _Archangel_-class mobile assault ships. Fast, tough, with large hangars, tremendous firepower and the ability to enter the atmosphere, they were _the_ de facto flagship of choice for many. Most such vessels were employed by the IDF or rather ZAFT now that the two organizations had more or less merged.

Their most notable capacity was probably their use as flagship for virtually all the Gates of Heaven Defense Fleets. The _Seraphim_ also served as the flagship of Admiral Kira Yamato, and was the most powerful ship of the class today. The _Dauntless_, a new vessel of the class, was serving as Makoto's own flagship.

The _Archangel_-class was not exclusive to ZAFT, though; the Orb Union now had two such vessels, including the original _Archangel_, with another two under construction. The Atlantic Federation had also managed to commission the development of three of them from Amate Corporation, which was not bound solely to work for ZAFT, even if ZAFT was its primary client. One of those three assault ships had also been given to the Atlantic Federation's ally, the United States of South America.

Not to be left out, the Eurasian Federation also commissioned three vessels; they likewise handed one over to their ally, the African Union. Both the Equatorial Union and the Kingdom of Scandinavia had each commissioned an _Archangel_ for themselves as well; however, they went to Morgenroete rather than Amate.

The net result was that, even though only Morgenroete and Amate could produce the ships due to legal issues that no one wanted to delve into, every nation had at least one of the powerful assault ships, which generally served as the flagship for their own military.

Makoto shook her head away from examining the military matters as Shinn returned, which finally shut up Shizuka's rant about the impossibilities of the Solar Drive System.

It was time to put the new technology to the test.

* * *

The _Seraphim_

Kira Yamato, the legendary White Angel of Freedom, a leader in the Izanami Defense Force and, unknown to him, the current candidate for leadership of the new ZAFT, let out a small sigh of relief as he dropped into the seat at his desk aboard his flagship.

Like Makoto, he'd decided to do his best to avoid getting involved in the reorganization of ZAFT. It had, surprisingly, been pretty easy; he just had to volunteer to take command of the fleet escorting Armory One, which was to be moved from L4 to L5.

With all the events recently, colonization was the last thing on anyone's mind. There really was no value in Armory One's presence at L4 anymore… in fact, there had never been much value for it, other then allowing the Armory One Theft incident to occur.

So, Armory One was being pulled back to L5, where it would serve alongside Armory Two, presently under construction, as a military production PLANT. Armory One would also become home to the new ZAFT academy; this wasn't hard, given that it was already well-equipped for comfortable living, while Armory Two, which would be a larger Type-II PLANT, would be given over largely to production and garrisoning, though with its own comfortable living conditions for the people working there, and their families if they wanted.

There were three additional Type II PLANTs under construction—the Graveyard. Unlike even the Armory PLANTs, the Graveyard was intended exclusively for military use. They would be on the edges of ZAFT's airspace, and would serve as combat training facilities—both in and out of mobile suits.

There had been a lot of arguing back and forth on the matter—after all, they seemed like a lot of wasted space.

However, the use of dedicated military training PLANTs had merits, and the Graveyard had ultimately been approved. As Kira understood it, there were some very special plans in place regarding the environments, but he didn't worry about it too much himself, as he seriously doubted the Graveyard would ever be a concern for him outside of his own training sessions.

As he leaned back in his seat, Kira thought back to everything that had happened in the months since the war.

His mother becoming the representative of Tsukuyomi City had been a surprise for him; he'd never have expected her to be interested in such things, but apparently, she'd spent a little too much time around Serenity… not to say that was necessarily a bad thing, but it was unexpected.

When Izanami and the PLANTs merged, this had put his mother on the Supreme Council as well.

Though, at the very least, it wasn't like this could increase Kira's fame—or infamy, as the case may be. He was, after all, a legendary pilot who led the largest united force in living memory, and was engaged to the leader of the Supreme Council. It was hard to get much bigger than that.

Canard, on the other hand, would probably have some trouble getting work if it became public knowledge that he was Caridad's son. The failed Ultimate Coordinator and informal Child of Divinity had returned to mercenary work, which didn't really surprise anyone.

Canard was a restless sort of person, never staying in one place too long. Somewhere along the line, he'd acquired enough money to commission a _Cornelius_-class from Amate Corp., out of his own pocket. No one who knew about it really wondered as to _why_ Canard would want a mere tender ship to replace the _Ortygia_—the _Cornelius_-class may have been smaller, but it was faster, and could enter the atmosphere; after all, the class was designed to serve as a tender ship for the _Archangel_-class, even if it never actually went anywhere.

The intercom for Kira's office door started beeping suddenly, and Kira pressed the switch to turn it on with a small sigh.

"Yes? What is it?" he asked.

"_Admiral, may I come in? I brought some food…_" came the almost uncertain voice on the other end. Kira smiled slightly, and pressed the switch to open the door, turning to face it.

"Of course, come on in," said Kira, as the girl stepped in carrying a tray of food, careful to avoid going flying in the low-level artificial gravity that was all they'd been able to achieve with the technology (still, better than zero gravity). "Thanks Mayumi."

She smiled at him.

Mayumi Taiyonoha, as she was now known, was the adoptive daughter of Shizuka Taiyonoha. She was _also_ the sister of Shinn Asuka and adoptive sister of Treize Zabiarov. She was currently on the third name she'd used in her life, after Mayu Asuka and Mariemeia Zabiarov.

As Mayu Asuka, she'd been nearly killed by Christian Balliet during the Blue Cosmos-led invasion of Orb by the Atlantic Federation. As it turned out, it was an attack by Kira that had inadvertently saved Mayu's life by knocking Balliet's missile off-course just before it launched. This 'rescue' was the most vivid memory of her life as Mayu, and it showed at times.

However, this had doomed her to another fate altogether: namely, being turned into an Extended-Coordinator by Blue Cosmos, brainwashed into viewing Coordinators with an even _more_ genocidal bent than many actual members of Blue Cosmos did.

Eventually, over the course of the Second War, the mental state of EX-C1004, more commonly known as Mariemeia 'Maia' Zabiarov, broke down until she was constantly falling in and out of catatonic states.

Then the personality of Mayu met Mariemeia and rescued her from the catatonic insanity she'd become trapped in.

Though Mariemeia remained the dominant personality for months afterwards, as her rehabilitation for the EX-C drugs progressed, Mayu and Maia had merged into a new personality.

She viewed both Shinn and Treize as her older brothers, but it was a confusing mess at times; she was currently attending family therapy with them, separately for the moment. Neither of them was really able to look after her, though, which is why she'd been adopted by the Taiyonoha, much the same as Erica had been.

Her new name was one largely of her own choosing; she was comfortable with the Taiyonoha, and still got to see Shinn and Treize regularly. Her rehabilitation was pretty much complete, and her insistence on doing something to make up for her actions as an EX-C had eventually gotten her into the military.

Her gratitude towards Kira for saving her life, regardless of how inadvertent it had been, was probably why she was now working as his aide; she'd been rather insistent about joining him on the _Seraphim_ during the escort of Armory One, and her recovery was far enough along that it had been allowed.

Mayumi's rehabilitation had gone better than the other two surviving EX-Cs, Yzak Joule (or EX-C1306, aka Silber Messa) and Dearka Elsman (or EX-C1261, aka Rache Packard).

_Their_ recovery had been nothing short of a nightmare; this was because Silber and Rache remained wild, barely controlled fanatics still frantically trying to take control, which was also slowing the treatment down considerably. Still, after eight months, Yzak and Dearka were beginning to resurface, though it was erratic and they were disoriented when they did.

The net result of this was that the two swung wildly, violently even, between their true selves and their EX-C selves. The two EX-Cs referred to as Zabiarov had apparently been odd cases compared to the rest of them.

Still, there was hope; if it came down to it, Makoto was even willing to try her own method, but those who knew about it were pretty insistent she not put that strain on herself again if it wasn't necessary.

As Mayumi set the tray of food down on the desk, Kira gave her an odd look.

"Didn't you get yourself something?" he asked.

"I um… I ate before coming here," admitted Mayumi. "I thought you might prefer to be left alone a little longer after getting the escort organized."

"Thanks," said Kira. "Shinn would probably be killing me for letting you help me all the time if it weren't for… well…"

"If you hadn't saved my life?" said Mayumi. She sighed. "Yes, you're probably right. He's so stubborn."

Kira chuckled slightly; Shinn actually wasn't nearly as stubborn as Mayumi was suggesting, but he was _incredibly_ protective of her. Truth be told, Shinn would probably have tried to kill Kira regardless of actions in the past if the brunet had allowed Mayumi anywhere near the regular forces. He was probably grateful Kira had allowed her to act as his aide, since it sated her desire to be in the IDF (or ZAFT, now) while keeping her well away from the frontlines of potential conflict.

None of this was to say Shinn wasn't extremely grateful to Kira for saving Mayu's life so many years ago, once the information actually came out. Compounded with his respect for Kira's abilities, the loose friendship the two now had, and Shinn's dedication to the cause of peace, Kira knew that Shinn's loyalty to him personally was third only to his loyalty to Mayumi and the PLANTs… and even then, Kira wasn't certain Shinn actually placed the PLANTs above the White Angel anymore.

With the Dark Knight of Destiny, it was always hard to tell… which really was the cause of half Shinn's problems, as he refused to go see a therapist for the trauma of losing his family, and managed to look rational and calm enough that no one really pressured him, even before he became Durandal's chosen champion for the Destiny Plan.

Kira let out a faint sigh of contentment; no matter the shadows cast by Horizon, they were ready for them when the time came.

And for now, they would enjoy the peace they had.

* * *

Catharina Lunar Base

"Wow," muttered the technicians as the Solar Drive continued to produce solar particles, and from them, the SD System drew energy to power the Destiny.

"Energy harnessing is currently at fifty percent relative to particle generation," added a female technician. "But the power output is already nearly equal to Serenity's generator!"

"So…" murmured Makoto softly, staring at the Destiny. "This is the power Sera left for us…" She pressed the button for the loudspeaker. "Shinn, once we bring power to ninety-five percent relative to particle generation, I want you to launch Destiny and test the Wings of Light. Understood?"

"_Yeah,_" replied Shinn. "_I can't believe this; it's unreal!_"

"Yeah… yeah, it is," murmured Makoto softly. "Just don't forget the risks involved; this is the first full test of the SD System, okay?"

"_Yeah, I won't forget,_" promised Shinn. Makoto smiled, before straightening up slightly, releasing the button for the loudspeaker, and walking over to stare out the tower window at the lunar landscape. Her eyes moved upwards, towards the unseen stars.

Sera had left a powerful legacy behind. They wouldn't let her down.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I finished this before I even posted the After Phase of _SEED Serenity_, but wanted reader opinions on the union before I put this one up. I finally decided on Asteria as the name of the new nation, taken from Greek ("of the stars" or "starry one". Also, numerous Greek mythological figures).**

**Anyways, this serves as a bridge of sorts between _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Serenity_ and _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Divinity_, the former now complete, the latter not out yet. This deals with the changed political environment, and sets the stage for Kira and Makoto's positions in _SEED Divinity_. It also shows other changes on the military front, as well as the fate of the EX-Cs. Mayumi in particular was fun.**

**For those overobsessed with military matters, remember that they gave good reasons for Kira and Makoto to receive those new positions; as the characters said, the positions are very symbolic in nature, and the two have proven themselves quite competent. Makoto receives the short end of the stick, simply being stated to be a lot like Kira instead of getting a list.**

**Another thing is the IDB/Amate Corp situation. Gundams and mooks will be much more closely balanced in the sequel; the reason is that every world power shifts to quality over quantity, a stance previously held only by Izanami. Even ZAFT primarily went quantity over quality; first war, they were hard-pressed, and in the second, Durandal wanted to make Shinn look that much better. IDB never got out of this mindset, nor did many others. Morgenroete initially balanced quality and quantity most of the time, but shifted towards quality as time went on. Amate Corporation is the culmination of that. This also means the only production MS from Destiny you'll be seeing in military service are a custom Murasame update, the GOUF Tetra (merely a GOUF Ignited update) and Windams (these are shifted to a support role, though).  
**

**And as Shizuka said, the Solar Drives are based around fucking with the laws of physics; I figured this out early on in my conception of them, and decided to lampshade it here. It is not simply a matter of failing physics forever. While I won't explain everything right now, I will tell you that the Solar Drives basically work by being fed a small amount of energy, and they then proceed to produce several times the amount of energy they brought in. A more complete explanation will be given later; rest assured that, while based on GN Drives, these do not produce magic pixie dust.**

**And that's all for now. I hope to see you all soon, when I start on _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Divinity_.**

**Till then! Sayonara!  
**


End file.
